rixter

0260
EVERY used car comes with inherent risk.. this is why a PPI is so important,
will it catch everything, no.. that's life there are NO GUARANTEES
if you really want a 928 you'll feel comfortable with look around some more.. there are many places to find one in well maintained condition
this one has you spooked, and as such you should really consider walking away until you can get a full grasp of what you may or may not be getting into

hope that helps
Rixter

zero2sixty

I do have mechanical ability. Since this will not be a daily driver, I have a nice garage (heated) so I can address items. This board is very active and has tons of good advise. So, I could probably take some repairs with the kind help of board members.

T_MaX

I think you got lucky, a day later and it would be all on you ($$$)!

Yes, pertty much!

Tell the seller that you will buy it after the car is fixed. If it comes out to 3.5k, than you will give him an addition 1.5k.

docmirror

OK, maybe I was a little rough. You won't work on the car, that's okay. Be prepared to pay good money for good service. That does not mean Porsche dealership! If you trust this wrench, and you really love this car, have the work done first. Then pay the seller the difference when it's all done.

Good luck, I knew once you drove it you would buy, but you got a little ahead of your sensible side. 928s will do that to the coldest of guys! Here's a suggestion. find one that is pristine. All maint up to date, pay a premium for the best of the best in the fleet. Find a 928 wrench, not a Porsche wrench, a 928 wrench. If you buy the one you're looking at, you may be in for a long road of disappointment.

Doc

bwebb77

There are serval very good websites with very good write-ups on most everything you could think of and then some. When you get the car first thing, become a member here. It's cheap and the best money you will ever spend. We all will help with any problems you can run into, somebody here has BTDT at one time or another. Plus there is a wealth of info here in the archives.

zero2sixty

I already feel like everyone here is very nice and helpful. What a great find. I am going to get a good nights sleep on this one. By the way , I really am soooo luckyyyyyy that this happened in his drive way. My luck would be I would get the car home and the next morning this would have happend. So, maybe this was some what of a good thing happening when it did.

Thanks so much everyone. Though I am still kicking this deal around, other than ebay and traderonline and autotrader, when else can I find a 928. My price range is $13,000 to $17,000.

Again, thank you.

bcdavis

My opinion is to get him to pay a portion of what it takes to get it running right. It may be no big deal. No matter what, if I was buying a 928, I would take it in to get all the basic maintainance done. Fix all leaks, get a new timing belt, get a tuneup, etc, etc... I would consider those things just the basic start of your ownership. You want a car with no problems. So you need a really good 928 mechanic to go over the car with a fine tooth comb, and fix it until it's perfect. THEN you drive it as your daily driver, and you should have very minimal maintainance costs from that point on out... But you have to get the car in good running order before you start your ownership adventure... You just happen to have to fix these things right away. Didn't people tell you to set aside $2,500 or so towards getting the car up to snuff? There are always things that have been neglected, and need to be fixed. So consider it a good thing that the previous owner is willing to pay for part of the repairs.

Rich9928p

Even if you have a PPI and the car passes, it is wise to reserve at least 10% of the price for future upkeep and upgrades. So, get a good deal on this car and spend up to the $17K that you've budgeted. By doing this, you'll have a known good car vs. risking buying a $17K 928 and then have to put $5k into it!!

The seller sounds like a good guy with his offer to pitch in - you did sign an contract and if he was a jerk he could hold you to it - or cause an expensive legal fight.

If you pull the intake for a reseal and to look for vacuum leaks, have all the rubber lines replaced and you may as well replace the idle speed regulator when it is possible. It also may be a good idea to have the cam covers removed and new seals put in there (and around the spark plugs). Probably time to spring for a new set of plug wires and replace the heater valve (low expense, easy to do when the engine is apart).

A lot of LHs fuel injection modules are failing these days. There are cost effective sources.

Good luck, welcome to the club!

chaadster

0260,

My thought, man, is that you should count your lucky stars and walk away from this deal. I say this because it sounds like this cat has been cruising on this car, i.e. not taking care of routine business/maintenance. You know, the "drive it till it breaks" philosophy. The low mileage is nice, but not at the expense of care. Things are going to start failing soon, and the stuff you could have fixed now, up front, is only the start.

I think you'd be better off with a higher mileage car that has been tended to in order to keep it running. You'll probably have fewer surprises with that kind of car.

Also, I'm nervous about the "shop up the street"... is this the same shop that has been telling him it's cool to run a timing belt for 11 years? I wouldn't trust that those cats know anything about a 928, and they will probably overlook a bunch of stuff or be really surprised once they have it open. Do you know their reputation?

There are a lot of 928s out there, especially S4s. Nice ones, too. You can afford to be very patient and discriminating, especially in the $15k price range. I just don't think that starting off ownership with a headache is any way to go.

FlyingDog

You took it to a mechanic who charges $250 for what amounts to a PPI and he only quoted $3k for repairs? That means it's probably $500-1000 if you do it yourself... maybe less. If you trust the two mechanics that looked the car over and their diagnosis matched, I'd recommend trying to get the seller to knock the $2500 off your $13,000 agreed price. If the car looks and drives as well as you say, only has 77k miles, and has records for 1993 on, $10,500 is a good price even if it needs $1000 or so in repairs.

TAREK

The mechanic is crook regarding the timing belt and water pump. I think it's a great deal, assuming the condition is nice, and the only problem is stalling. You take ANY 928 to ANY mechanic and you you'll be sure to hear "oh you need a timing belt and water pump". This car will need a timing belt job eventually, but not just yet. My advice , FWIW, is have only the stalling problem fixed , and go enjoy the car. You're getting a decent deal.

Now with that said, if you don't do your own work, expect to spend a lot of $$ sooner or later...so you might want to have peace of mind and do it sooner and start off a clean page of ownership.

...just don't be fooled into believing no 928 needs a timing belt and water pump when showing it to a mechanic. They just go by mileage to determine it, and the factory recommends a lot more than 27,000 miles between timing belts...as long as tension is properly monitored

DoubleNutz

Yr..............US sales
87...............1967
88...............1427
89...............835
90...............620
91...............263
92...............0

LOTS of 928's- "epecially S4's"? Hmmm, I strongly beg to differ. It looks like he has only 5,112 cars total to pick from and what percentage of those are total hoopty's or even on the road? If there are 2500 eligable S4's out there I think that would be an optomistic estimate.

lorenolson888

yup everyone is right....

it is hard to get a good car though...

Learn to work on your own car and get at least some peice of mind...

if you don't know how to work on your 928, owning a 928 may be a stressful experience...

if the engine sounded good when you first test dove it... buy it and get the maintenance done quick, if it sounded like **** then don't get it... because you don't know really what is wrong...

good luck...

Dave Howerdel

Having owned 12 of these cars maybe I can provide some insight. Upon purchasing each one, I replaced the timing belt/wp along with all related parts. I've pulled the intake and replaced hoses gaskets, idle stabilizer etc. Then I clean all electrical contacts including grounds, fuses, relays(usually replace the relays). I replace all fluids(oil, brake, coolant, tranny, power steering, diff), plugs and filters. Finally, I adjust the ride height and have it aligned.

I do this whether or not I have to and it gives me a sort of peace of mind that the major issues have been dealt with.
This allows me easily troubleshoot any future issues that arise while keeping maintenance costs to a minimum.

The most time consuming/important of these is the tb/wp and the intake while turning your own wrenches. It seems that you are not one that is prepared to do so, therefore having the po offer to pay over 80% of these costs up front may actually be advantageous; especially if there are no maintenance records for the car. These motors are good for several 100 thousand miles and auto trannys last(based on my experience) about 170,000 mi.

These cars, once sorted out, are really not that hard to maintain. just my .02

BTW if you do decide to go ahead with the purchase/repairs, be sure that your wrench send out the injectors for a good cleaning.

jetrainor

Just got my car back after tb/wp, valley service, motor mounts.....its a different car....used to idle up and down, wouldn't start without gas pedal and then ran rich.....the hoses under the intake were rotten, idle stab shot, vacume lines off, etc.....predictable stuff for an 18 year old car. Yah, it cost some bucks to get it right but if you don't want to look after that stuff, drive a Huyndai

87 euro auto
silver/black